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Personal life

Katie was born on Aug 8, 1987 in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire to Peter and Kar Wai Li Leung. Her parents are now divorced, and she currently resides with her father (a native of Hong Kong), two brothers (one named Jonathan), and a sister (Violet). Her father runs a restaurant in Glasgow, as well as a wholesale business in Chinese cuisine. Besides English, Leung can also speak Cantonese and some Mandarin. Leung attended Hamilton College, a Scottish private school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. She currently lives in London. Katie has visited various countries including: America, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Turkey.

Career

Leung's father saw an advertisement for a casting call for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and suggested she try out. She waited for a total of four hours in line before she got in. Her audition only took five minutes and she heard nothing further for two weeks; she was then called for a workshop and thereafter got the part of Cho. She was selected for the role of Cho after beating over 4,000 other girls (including actresses Courtney Webb and Michelle Ang) in an open call audition in London for girls of East Asian appearance. She stated in an interview with the Daily Record that her Scottish accent probably gave her an edge in the casting room by making her stand out.

Katie Leung as Cho Chang

Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays Harry Potter, said he found Katie to be "awesome" and a "really amazing actress". Her best friend on set has been said to be Bonnie Wright who portrays Ginny Weasley in the films. Leung delayed plans to go to art college and university in order to film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In the film, Katie and Daniel share an on-screen kiss, a fact that received much media attention. When asked whether she will be back for the sixth film, Leung responded, "I don't think so. Cho's mentioned briefly in the books, but they try to cram so much into the films that I don't think there'll be room for her." Leung has also provided the voice of Cho Chang in the video game adaptations of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In July, 2007, Katie was asked by Gold Label Records, a well known record company in Hong Kong, to play a main female character in a music video for a song called Love Coming Home (愛回家) by Leo Ku. Leung agreed as soon as she received the invitation, and filmed the movie in London in between busily promoting the new Harry Potter film. Leo described Katie's acting as "professional" and "mature". In September 2008, Leung made her television debut as schoolgirl Hsui Tai in the episode "Cat Amongst The Pigeons" of the series Poirot, based on the novels by Agatha Christie.